History
The Mayunese people are not native to Nawaquivo but were forced to flee to the region to escape the invading armies of the Bho'rung Empire just over eighty years ago. The Mayunese once inhabited the lowland region of Mayuna of north-western Xannui, farming the fertile plains and fishing along the banks of the wide Lausai River. The Mayunese nation was not particularly powerful or wealthy. It existed in relative isolation from the other major powers of Xannui, only trading occasionally with the small tribes who inhabited the surrounding forests and mountains.
However, their solitary existence was violently ended when the Bho'rung Empire's expanding borders reached Mayuna. A proclamation was delivered to the Mayunese monarch from the child emperor Trasak, demanding their capitulation and absorption into the Bho'rung empire. Even given the Mayunese's seclusion, word had reached them of the harsh and tyrannical treatment to which the Bho'rung Empire subjected its vassals, imposing crippling taxes and tribute demands, or else claiming vast numbers of their populations as slave labour to toil in mines, quarries or in the fields. Any sign of rebellion was put down ruthlessly, whole townships put to the sword or put on display in mass public executions as warnings to others.
The Mayunese were not a powerful nation, with only a token military that they knew would have been no match for the disciplined killing machine of the Bho'rung legions. Rather than fight the Bho'rung, Queen Loe Them decreed that the Mayunese must flee. The Mayunese abandoned their homeland practically en masse. They did not flee overland but took to the broad, sleepy waters of the Lausai River in a fleet of barges and riverboats, heading downstream away from the approaching Bho'rung forces. Not everyone was able to make good their escape. Most of those who lived in the outlying hamlets and villages could not make it to the river in time and were forced to either surrender themselves to the Bho'rung army or flee into the wilderness to take their chances, or perhaps to find shelter with the neighbouring hill or forest tribes.
The flotilla of Mayunese boats made their way downstream, following the current northwards into the dense jungle. The Lausai is broad and slow-moving, so even as the trees and undergrowth grew thick and heavy along the banks, there was enough space upon the river for the refugee Mayunese to make their slow, steady progress towards the coast. At last, they chanced upon a place where they could settle again. The stone remains of an ancient, long-deserted settlement of a people long lost to time lay astride the waters of the Lausai, with miles and miles of dense jungle between it and the Bho'rung Empire. With strength enough left to clear the ruins of the pests which infested it, the Mayunese claimed the ruined city as their new home and began the slow, steady process of rebuilding their lives in the newly named city of Huanrar, meaning 'refuge' in the Mayunese language.
In the decades since the Maynuese have had to struggle to adapt to their new environment. Where they once farmed fertile plains or herded livestock in rugged hills, they now had to learn to hunt and forage the dense rainforest around them and to take advantage of any arable land they could find. They also faced new dangers; hostile bands of boggards or xenophobic lizardfolk, plus the myriad of dangerous beasts that stalked through the trees. But despite the hardship, the Mayunese found within themselves a fierce determination to persevere. They slowly founded new villages and towns around Huanrar as well as a number of port towns in hidden coves and harbours on the northern Xannui coast, bordering the Carneman Sea.
Comments